National Medical Commission Bans Conversion Therapy For LGBTQ Community

In another welcome move for the LGBTQ (or the more expansive LGBTQIA+) community, the National Medical Commission has ordered to ban the practice of conversion therapy in India. The Commission has warned doctors that offering conversion therapy to any individual belonging to the community will amount to “professional misconduct”.

The members of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Intersex Asexual or any other sexual orientation (LGBTQIA+) community are often subjected to conversion therapy, especially the youth. In layman's language, conversion therapy is an attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, and the practice has been banned in several countries such as Canada for being unscientific. From psychiatric treatment, electroshock therapy to exorcism and violence or the use of psychosomatic drugs, conversion therapy can comprise any of these which can lead to trauma, depression, anxiety, drug use or even suicide.

However, conversion therapy is still offered by several practitioners across the world including in India.

Don't Miss:Air Pollution Affects Women More Than Men: Study Suggests

After the Supreme Court struck down Section 377 and decriminalised homosexuality in India in 2018, in another landmark judgement in July, the Madras High Court said that it was issuing guidelines for the police, and social welfare ministries of the State and Centre. And the medical council for the protection of the LGBTQIA+ community. Complying with the same order, the NMC, a regulatory body for medical education and medical professionals, in a hearing on September 2, 2022 banned the practice under the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002. On August 25, the Commission told the High Court that it had issued a notification to the state medical councils.

However, there needs to be more clarity on the actions that will be taken against the psychiatrists and doctors accused of offering such conversions and the punishment they might face.

Don't Miss:Liz Truss To Become 3rd Woman Prime Minister Of Britain After Historic Win

As per a Times of India report, a city-based radiologist Dr Prasad Dandekar, who heads the Health Professionals for Queer Indians (HPQI) to sensitise healthcare professionals on the needs of the community, wrote to the Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) in February about one of its members promoting conversion therapy. In a now-deleted social media post, the IPS member, Dr Deepak Kelkar, had said that homosexuality is a disease that could be treated with various interventions such as conversion therapy. Though he has removed the video after Dandekar’s legal notice, no follow-up action has been taken yet.